Sometimes it is just nice to use what nature provides to help us heal, at least when we are talking about minor cuts, scratches and burns etc. Below is a tutorial from ‘One Good Thing By Jillee’, which hows how to make not one, but four natural healing salves.

There is an all purpose healing salve, an anti-allergy (with natural anti-histamine properties), an aches & pains salve and finally an natural anti-ageing salve.

(Photo from: One Good Thing By Jillee)

Gasifier camp stoves are gaining in popularity, this is because they burn very hot, very clean and very efficiently. The reason gasifier stoves are more efficient is because the air is drawn in through the bottom of the stove and as it passes though the fuel, it too is combusted, so in effect you are burning the fuel, and the wood gas/smoke which is given off. That’s my very basic understanding of the process anyway…

Now you can purchase a gasifier camp stove, the Solo Stove is very popular with campers, hikers and preppers. I have a Solo Stove and I will be reviewing it shortly. Whilst the Solo Stove is a premium bit of kit, it does cost around $70. Below is a tutorial on how to build your own gasifer camp stove for free, from some tin cans and a few screws. This stove is called the MIDGE (“Modified Inverted Downdraft Gasifier Experiment”) and it is actually quite famous in its own right as an awesome little stove for those into DIY, or on a tight budget. Check it out below, it is very easy to make.

Given the precautions about eating under cooked chicken, I was a bit skeptical about using this method, but when done properly, the main issue would seem to be over cooking the chicken, rather than under cooking, or uneven cooking. Turns out this is a great way to cook a whole chicken when camping, if the power’s off, or in SHTF scenarios.

Simply put – you place some wood and charcoal in the base of the coffee (or any size 10) can, wrap the chicken in foil and then leave to cook. To get the full information, check out the link below.

(Photo from: Survival Tek)

Chia seeds have remarkable nutritional value, they are one of the very few foods that contain the full protein profile; this means you can get all the protein you need from just chia seeds alone. Usually you would need to combine two or more protein sources over several days to get all the vital amino acids require for health.

It’s not only the protein which makes chia seeds special, they are also full of omega 3 oils, iron, antioxidants, fiber and magnesium and potassium, and many other important vitamins. In short – chia seeds are a nutritional powerhouse!

Chia seeds are easy to prepare and as they don’t really taste of anything, they can by added to any meal to improve its nutritional value. Chia seeds store well, and take up hardly any space in the cupboard/pantry. When you take all of the above into account, I think it’s an excellent idea for preppers to start storing chia seeds, to add a much needed nutritional boost to all the processed and canned food which is typically stored. You can read more about the benefits of chia seeds below.

If you are storing food, or thinking of starting to put some away, the difficult question to answer is – how much food do I need to store, per person, to survive a specific period of time? Thanks to ‘Food Storage Made Easy’, this is no longer a problem, as they have created a free Excel ‘Long Term Automatic Food Storage Calculator’.

The food calculator spreadsheet contains of commonly stored staple foods; just fill in how many adults and children there and how many months worth of food you’d like to store, and the spreadsheet automatically fills in all the quantities required for each food to survive for the period stated. Seriously, this is an awesome time saver and it couldn’t be easier to use. Just download it, open it in Excel, fill in your details, and it does the rest.

If you don’t have Excel, I have you covered! You can download the Open Source and free software Open Office, which is compatible with MS Word and MS Excel etc.

The Master Tonic is a natural remedy for all manner of illnesses and infections. It is most commonly used to treat colds and flu, but as it is anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial it is useful in the treatment of many common illnesses and viruses. It can also be taken daily to ward off illness and maintain health.

Even though it is a natural remedy, the Master Tonic will knock your socks off! It is powerful, potent stuff, with garlic, horseradish, ginger and pepper amongst the fresh active ingredients. You can make and bottle a batch in one go, as it also stores well, apparently indefinitely. Check out the recipe and tutorial below. A powerful and natural alternative to what you can get at the pharmacy.

(Photo from: Happy Mothering)

Most of us get the majority of out food from the store; sure some of us grow and rear some of our food, but even then, a lot of our food still comes from the store, especially in the winter months. Below is a link to an awesome article about living on Prince of Wales Island in south-east Alaska. People living here have to survive largely as subsistence hunters and gatherers, and when food is plentiful, they have to can and preserve it in bulk for future use when food isn’t so readily available.

This article is a great read for anyone into prepping, homesteading and living sustainably off-the-grid as it explains about subsistence hunting/gathering and also shows how vital canning and preserving foods is, when it is plentiful…

(Photo from: Alastair Bland/for NPR)

So you want to get into archery but you have been put off by the cost of traditional long bows and archery equipment? Well, how would you like to build an awesome longbow on the cheap, which is easily powerful enough to hunt with?

Check out the two videos below from the Backyard Bowyer and see how it’s done… This guy is awesome, he shows just how cheap and easy it is to make a quality, powerful long bow, from PVC tube. He also has a few additional videos demonstrating the bow in action. This really does emphasise what can be achieved with limited funds, a lot of thinking outside the box and creativity.

Archery is a great recreational sport/hobby, and it can prove a vital survival skill if the SHTF or you need to hunt for food in the future. If nothing else, this is a great, fun DIY project for the weekend!

I will soon be doing a post on how to make and fletch your own arrows, which could also save you a heap of money…

Fancy turning your slingshot into a slingshot-bow? The short tutorial below shows how to do just that!

The tutorials uses a whisker biscuit for the arrow rest; these can be pretty expensive, so if you are on a tight budget, you can use a keyring and two rubber bands. Simply tie the rubber bands to the keyring and attach each band to each arm of the slingshot (so the keyring sits in the middle!) You will have to adjust the height and tension for accuracy, but it is a whole load cheaper that buying a whisker biscuit…

(Photo from: mountainmedic via Instructables)

There are two reasons to think about making your own dog and cat food; firstly cheap dog/cat food is full of fillers and additives and good quality dog/cat food is very expensive. The second reason is that being able to make your own high quality dog/cat food will be vital if the SHTF or dog/cat food is not available for whatever reason. These recipes are all made with quality organic ingredients; I guess they could be made with non-organic meats to cut down the costs, but this is up to you…

These recipes state they are for dogs, but having looked through the recipes, I can see no reason why most aren’t also suitable for cats. If anyone knows differently, do let me know!